As the Associated Press noted, “Each measure fell short of the 60 votes needed to progress. Democrats called the GOP proposals unacceptably weak while Republicans said the Democratic plans were too restrictive.”

Completely outrageous.

Somehow, Congress has convinced itself that it marks progress when votes about gun-related issues are actually taken, even if these measures have virtually no chance of passing. And these votes came about mainly because U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., launched a nearly 15-hour filibuster last week to push for action.

Meanwhile, America’s lax gun laws are simply making it far too easy for deranged people to obtain guns, including assault-style weapons that have been the choice of gunmen in many of the horrific, deadly shootings we have seen across the country in recent years. The carnage has to be stopped.

Yet the Senate voted down similar bills in December after the shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California. And neither house of Congress believed there was a compelling reason to act after 26 people — including 20 children — were gunned down in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2013.

The country has witnessed far too many mass murders, and, in many cases, guns that were once illegal under a federal assault-weapons ban have been used to commit these heinous acts.

True, all the legislation in the world isn’t going to stop someone hell-bent on creating such mayhem. But it could make it harder for them — and that should be more than enough to spur action.

Comprehensive solutions include stricter gun-control laws that tighten background checks and lengthen wait times for when people can get a gun; bans on certain assault rifles; and more funding for mental-health services.

Ironically, the day the Senate was failing the country once again, the states of New York and Connecticut, places where stronger gun-control measures have been approved, got some good news from the Supreme Court. The high court refused to hear a challenge to the assault weapons bans passed in Connecticut and New York after the Sandy Hook school massacre. But here’s the utterly maddening part about that: These stronger efforts will go only so far if other states are allowed to have porous laws — ones that do little, if nothing, to keep guns out of the hands of those with mental illnesses, or with gang connections, and/or a history of domestic violence.

Too often, guns are bought in states with menial gun-control laws and then make their way to states like New York with tougher laws.

It’s why stronger federal measures are absolutely necessary — and why, once again, Congress has failed miserably to do anything about it.